Thomas Knyvett

Sir Thomas Knyvett (also Knevitt or Knivet or Knevet), of Buckenham, Norfolk (c.1485 - 10 August 1512) was a young English nobleman who was a close associate of King Henry VIII shortly after that monarch came to the throne. According to Hall's Chronicle[1], Knyvett was a frequent participant in the jousts and pageants of the new king's glittering court and was made Henry's Master of the Horse in 1510.

When Henry declared war on France in 1512, Knyvett, along with Sir John Carew, was given command of the royal flagship, the Regent. With a number of court favourites commanding other vessels, a small fleet set sail for the coast of Brittany. On 10 August 1512 they engaged a slightly larger French fleet, and a violent melee ensued in Brest. Knyvett's ship grappled with the French command vessel, and was engaged in boarding her when the French powder magazine blew up (some say it was deliberately ignited). The two vessels burst into flame. Knyvett and Carew both perished, along with the French captain and more than 1,700 men, both French and English.

Knyvett was married before July 1506 as second husband to Lady Muriel Howard (died in childbirth Lambeth, 14 December 1512, interred 8 January 1513), by whom he had five children: Edmund, Katherine, Ferdinand, Anne, and Henry.[2] She was the widow of John Grey, 2nd Viscount Lisle and 4th Baron Lisle and the mother of Elizabeth Grey, 5th Baroness Lisle, who was once engaged to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Lady Muriel was the daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443–1524) and Elizabeth Tilney, and through the Howard connection, Knyvett was related to many of the great figures of English history (his brother-in-law, for example, was Thomas Boleyn, father of Queen Anne, and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I).

In fiction

On the TV series The Tudors, a fictionalized Sir Anthony Knivert is based on him and played by Callum Blue.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Hall, Edward, The Vnion Of The Two Noble And Illustre Famelies Of Lancastre & Yorke (London, 1548). Generally known as "Hall's Chronicle," this contemporary history remains an important source of Tudor history. The 1809 edition, which is available online, describes the death of Thomas Knyvett pp. 534 ff.
  2. ^ Gunn